I heard this story read to a small group of people in the Community Garden in Nakusp. It related the memories of a teenage Sinixt boy in the early 20th Century, traveling with his father and uncles from the USA up to the Columbia Basin Valley near Revelstoke. They came to pan for gold and get cash to buy food and provisions for the winter since their traditional hunting grounds were no longer accessible.
The story relates how the young boy wandered through Cottonwood groves hunting game, when suddenly a grouse flew up into the canopy of the trees, and following its’ flight with his gun he was amazed by the sight of hundreds, thousands of caribou antlers banked like arches of a cathedral in the branches of the trees above his head.
In those days, and for perhaps thousands of years, Sinixt hunters had laid hides and blankets, and in these antler nests awaited the migrating caribou.
With the decimation of the caribou by white settlers and mining interests, herds are now reduced to a mere twenty pairs in the Selkirk mountains. A Caribou Park has been designated for the area, to protect what remains of their old growth habitat.
This project tells the story of this young man’s incredible discovery.
- Subject Matter: Wildlife